Gary Lineker praises Bivesh Gurung’s ‘brilliant’ FA Cup winner for Maidstone United as strike voted goal of the round

Football legend Gary Lineker has praised Bivesh Gurung’s FA Cup goal-of-the-round winner for Maidstone.

Gurung beat Neill Byrne (Stockport), Femi Azeez (Reading) and Ephron Mason-Clark (Peterborough) in a public vote after his 74th-minute rocket sank Barrow last weekend.

The Stones midfielder’s strike impressed England great Lineker, who made it his ‘moment-of-the-week’ on the podcast he presents alongside Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.

Speaking on the Rest is Football, former Barcelona and Tottenham striker Lineker said: “Bivesh Gurung scored a brilliant winner for National League South side Maidstone United as they beat League 2 high-fliers Barrow 2-1.

“Maidstone folded actually in 1992 after long-standing financial issues and it will be their first time in the FA Cup third round since then.

“(I’m) looking forward to seeing them against Stevenage or Port Vale in the third round where they’ll have a slight chance of getting through to the fourth round.”

Gurung, who’d been encouraged to shoot more by his mum, shouldn’t even have been on the pitch when he scored - making the goal even more special.

His substitution had been announced nine minutes earlier but he received a reprieve as he made his way off the pitch after team-mate Sol Wanjau-Smith went down injured.

A moment of magic